Hey! Where'd that cool stuff go?

Archaic MLS rules force agents to withhold information

Until recently, my site had a cool feature that I pulled from my MLS - sold properties, days on market, average and median prices, photos, etc. All that important stuff that buyers and sellers are looking for on the web.

Yesterday, my broker called me frantically, "You have SOLD properties on the web! That's ILLEGAL!"

"Illegall?" I replied. I had visions of being carted off to County for my infraction. "You mean against the rules?"

"Yes!" she said. "It's a HUGE fine!" She went on to say that I must remove that information from all the sites I designed.

Dutifully, not wanting to get nor cause anyone "HUGE FINES," I removed the information. Now, my web visitors must email me for the information. Then I can email them a link to the exact information that was previously posted on my site. Makes a lot of sense, doesn't it?

This "hiding" of information makes no sense to me. Web searchers can find sold information other places on the net - from non-Realtor sites like jsonline.com, tax assessors sites and zillow.com - yet the system which holds the most comprehensive information (Metro MLS) does not allow this information to be shared with consumers.

It harkens back to old-school real estate policies and a lack of understanding of how the web works and what people really want. For example, our MLS was pretty quick to get an online presence of current listings, yet still prohibits individual agents from having their own access - they must "frame" their broker's IDX (internet data exchange) on their websites.

My broker informed me that the MLS will soon allow broker websites to reveal this sold information, but not individual agents. And a kind associate from another MLS area informed me, after reading my post in Inman.com this morning, that their MLS does NOT exclude them from IDX feeds. So it is just the Milwaukee area MLS which does this.

So what is the deal here? To access our MLS, you must be a Realtor. To be a Realtor, you must join a few associations - national, state and local levels. The association dues cost us over $500 a year and I pay $360 a year in MLS fees. Why am I not allowed to utilize that information to build my business and give the public what it wants? I understand that the brokers "own" the listings and MLSs control the listing information, but aren't the agents the bread & butter that brings those listings in the door? And being a card-carrying, dues-paying member, shouldn't I have the same rights as any other member ie., broker-owners? (Don't get me wrong - I really love my broker and wouldn't go anywhere else - but I think we are taking the wrong path.)

The answer is that our association and MLS believes that our worth is in being gatekeepers to the information - something we were a long time ago. But now this same information is out there - albeit difficult to track down on hundreds of different websites - and being offered by non-Realtors. They believe that consumers will have to come to us and request the information. This shows how naive they are about what the consumer wants on the internet. The consumer wants information and then the ability to choose when to contact an agent. By forcing contact, they push away the very consumer they hope to attract.

So, for now, I have to play it their way. But I can only hope that they will see the error of their ways and realize that sharing this information will make agents and brokers destination sites for consumers. Right now, they have to go elswhere for their real estate needs. Is that really what we want?